Good Friday: A Mt. Washington Trifecta

Not three days off the red-eye flight, my alarm squawked to life at 4:30 a.m. My throat was scratchy like sandpaper; my back was tied like a rubber-band ball; and my right foot throbbed for one reason or another. But Cyril’s e-mail the night before was simple: “Dodge’s is in.”

Dodge’s Drop, a variation off Mount Washington’s Hillman’s Highway, is a 1,200-foot mountaineering route until it fills completely with snow. And according to pictures that Cyril had seen, it was full. So he and I, plus our friends Steve and Taylor, rallied for a day-trip to New Hampshire.

Turns out Dodge’s was in. And after warming up on a variation of Hillman’s Highway, we found out just how in it was, complete with powder, sluff, windslab and blue ice—it is Mt. Washington, after all. For good measure, we capped off the day with a descent of Duchess, another powdery steep ski off Hillman’s. A Good Friday, indeed.